That day
by Decipher Philosophy
Summary: Chazz tells it how it really is in the Princeton family.


A/N: I felt like doing some Princeton Brothers' fluff and angst. I hope to catch Chazz character.

._._._.

My brothers aren't as bad as people think. Not that their opinions mattered in the first place, but I'm going to tell you anyway because I feel like it. My brothers and I used to have a decent relationship when I was a kid. Slade was Mr. Popular with an amazing reputation since he was born as the first son of the proud Princeton family. Everyone loved him because he was perfect at any sport. He was always voted as school president due to his amazing charisma, good looks, and he ruled all those school he attended like a boss! So it was no surprise that he ended up in the world of politics. Just so you know, Slade does try his hardest to be a good politician to help people, but it takes a fuckin' long road to achieve doing good without causing too much of a ruckus! Got that! Good.

And then there's my second older brother, Jagger. He's a genius. He's been told that his genius was almost at the level of Seto Kaiba's genius. You should know like anyone if you were anyone that it takes some impressing to be ever given a compliment as good- hell as possible as that. It's practically an unspoken rule around the world that nobody can be complimented to be as good as thee Seto Kaiba unless you earned it! And Jagger did earn it! He graduated at the number one most esteemed university in the world when he was 12! TWELVE!

Of course there were others who graduated a university even younger, but who cares about them. The point is that Jagger is a genius. Whenever he could, he would help me with my math homework, and was smart enough to know how to dumb it down for me unlike the worthless teachers I had in my own schools. With that big brain of his, he reached to the top of the financial world with ease.

Then there was me. I wasn't as popular or smart like my older brothers; I'll admit. But I was born with the passion and talent to duel and that's what truly matters in life! My brothers noticed this when I was just a toddler. I was always laughing and smiling whenever they turned on the huge flat screen tv in my room to the dueling channel. They told me that I would get up on my little legs and stable myself at the edge of my crib to watch the duel.

My parents? I guess I should tell you of where my parents were. When I was four-Slade is fifteen years older than, so I guess he was eighteen or nineteen. Jagger was twelve years older, so he was fifteen or sixteen at the time-our parents was going through some issues because of our dad, and they were killed in a car "accident", but that's old news. I never knew them, so their death didn't give any impact on me. I guess I should thank them for making me, but I never felt like I was missing a father or mother in my life.

Slade was already like a dad to me, and funnily, Jagger was the mom. He's girlier. I mean have you seen his eyelashes. *Snorts!* Slade and Jagger was always busy, but we always talked together during dinner. Sometimes it would be just me and Slade, or me and Jagger if one of them had to be in the office. If they were both late, they would still go to wherever I was after dinner to tell me that they were home or tell me good night if I was in bed.

They did force me to attend their boring, fancy parties so they could show their cute little brother. I didn't mind sometime. When I did, I would whine about it in the limo, and Slade would always lecture me to be respectful and to suck it up. Jagger would agree with Slade. Jagger always agreed with Slade. I always wished as a brat that Jagger would be on my side for once, and say I was right. He was the smart one, so his opinion counted the most. It was how the Princeton brothers operated, and we all knew that.

We also knew that birthdays were just days to show off our importance and money to people. On Slade's birthday, it wouldn't be any different from any other fancy, rich party, except that Slade had to be the host. On Jagger's birthday, it was a bit more..how do I put it? Nerdy? Jagger is a genius, so it's natural that geniuses applauded other geniuses. *Smirk* Slade hated attending those parties. He wasn't stupid, but he wasn't at their level of vocabulary. He would spend the day before our brother's birthday grumbling about those snot-nosed prodigies and their huge foreheads. But he still hits the books so he doesn't appear stupid during the party. Not that I should talk since I didn't get jack shit of whatever the hell those nerds were talking about. But Jagger seemed to enjoy showing off his big brain, so kudos for him.

Then there was my birthday. I wasn't good at socializing like my big brothers. I hated the other kids at school because they all had that look in their faces that I was some kind of foreign alien, and then they would all whisper behind my back. Hmph. I didn't care. I had my deck...

*Minutes passed*

When I was six, I got my first deck on birthday that I only celebrated with Slade and Jagger present. Slade and Jagger also liked dueling, but they weren't experts. They wanted to give me the best, so they bought tons of rare cards since I was at the age when I should invest my time in it to become the best. They looked through the cards that they bought themselves to make sure that they were good enough for me. Then, they realized that I should have one super rare card. One card that nobody else had, and was perfect of me! Chazz Princeton!

They had their people search for that one card, and then they found him: Light and darkness dragon.

I loved that card. My brothers and I saw my future as the top duelist in the world of duel monsters with Light and darkness dragon in my deck! No one would've beaten me with him in my deck! I would've kept winning easily, and even beat Jaden, Zane and everyone in my path if I had him...

But that was the problem. I used to have him.

This may sound stupid to you, but your opinion doesn't count unless you're Jagger, so shut up and listen!

When I was ten, there was a bully in my school. I beat him easily in a duel with my light and darkness dragon. Even without him, that nobody was exactly what he was. A nobody, and he's staying that way.

You would think that one of the most expensive schools in the world would protect their students from anything. But I supposed that they didn't count the students, too, because the next day after the school, I was cornered by the bully and his other friends of nobodies. They held me down as he took my light and darkness dragon out of my deck and ripped it in half in front of me.

I could never forget those two seconds when he ripped them and let them fall to the floor. I lost a part of myself that day, and my family wasn't the same afterwards. Slade and Jagger were beyond furious when I told them what happened. I wasn't sure if they could understand because I was sobbing so hard that my eyes were blurry, my cheeks were tear stained and my wet snot was falling all over the place.

They sued and ruined the bully's and his friends' family. They tore them down to their very socks for what they did to me. School bullying became a hot issue in the media, and the school I attended went through heavy procedures to make sure that it didn't happen again. Not that I attended it again. I was home schooled.

My name was never bought up in the media because my brothers didn't want me to be seen as a victim in the public.

Despite all they did, our family wasn't the same. I wasn't the same old Chazz Princeton before that traumatic event. My brothers...they understood why I changed. They understood of how much I loved that card. That card was my only friend in the world besides them, and they didn't find it stupid. They knew that duelists were different when it came to the care of their cards. The cards represented our strength. It represented our skills. It represented who I was, and that was literally torn away from me.

My brothers tried to have a replica created by Maximillion Pegasus, but he told them that he couldn't because it wouldn't be the same. He was right. It wouldn't be the same. The original light and darkness dragon card was special. It had its own spirit.

With him gone, I wasn't sure if I could ever aspire to become a duelist; to become someone important and worthy of my brothers.

Slade and Jagger still pushed me to become one. They pushed me to do it for them; for the Princeton name; for our plan of world domination! And I tried! I tried so hard to find that passion! To find that strength that the light and darkness dragon gave me, but I knew I never would. But I still tried for them! I still tried to make Slade and Jagger proud of me! They didn't try so hard to make me the best for nothing! I could do it!

And I did it.

I, Chazz Princeton, was able to get into the pro leagues with tons of people wanting to sponsor me without their help. I was able to become the duelist that they always wanted me to be without them. I did it without my light and darkness dragon card. It is a bittersweet victory I know. No matter how many spirits I have, it could never fill the part of me who I lost that day. But at least I was able to live up to the Princeton name, and thank Slade and Jagger for everything by becoming my own person. To finally ease their guilt for not protecting me that day.

._._._.

A/N: Too lazy to edit this, but I hope I didn't get too OOC. Please tell me what you think!

So I was tempted to put in that Slade began to get more violent because of his guilt that he couldn't protect Chazz that day. He hits Chazz every time he screws up because it would remind him that he was a failure as an older brother, and father figure to Chazz. But Slade doesn't like beat Chazz up. It's only a hard smack, and yelling like Aster did to Chazz during the fourth season. It's still screwed up, but the Princeton brothers know each other, so Chazz and Jagger understand Slade's outbursts. In their own way, they forgive Slade, and Slade tries to not do it again, but outbursts are uncontrollable.

I didn't add it since it was controversial. Abuse shouldn't be acceptable, even if in the Princeton family, it seems like a norm. Plus, I bet Slade got hit by their father as a child every time he screwed up, so I supposed it was a taught impulse on Slade's behalf which is why Jagger still remains at Slade's side because he knows what he had to go through. Chazz doesn't exactly understand, but he understands the crust of it that he shouldn't let his brothers worry about him, or make their life any more troublesome than it already is.

So in my headcanon when Chazz dueled against Jaden for North academy, he didn't used his brothers' collection of rare cards because he wants to show them that he was able to support himself. He can be independent without them so they didn't have to worry about him anymore. However, they thought that Chazz didn't use them because he didn't care about them. It was their plan together to rule the world, so to them, Chazz acted out selfishly against them instead of with them like a family. Thus, disowning him after he lost.

However, I bet that after Chazz enter the pro leagues and continue to succeed in popularity despite his few losses along the way, they remain a family on equal, independent boundaries now, and love each other.

I honestly prefer the fanfics where Chazz reconciles with his brothers than those who don't. Because, yeah they were dicks, but throughout the anime, I see that the only approval Chazz ever truly seeks in the end (season 4) is his brothers' own. Their approval matters the most out of anyone. He doesn't care about anyone's opinions but his brothers, and I would love to imagine that at the very end of graduation and during the pro leagues, him and his brothers let bygones be bygones and function as a great rich family and be at each others weddings if they ever do marry.


End file.
